 Dear All,
Where there are no clearly defined rules of any game, the powerful will always define them any moment the game appears to be going against him/her and it makes mockery of fairness and justice. While the official is basically correct in saying the journalist should get an official comment, is it really a crime to write a story without an official comment? Could it not be that the journalist was in fact getting an official comment from officials he was trying to interview when he was arrested? A story does not have to have an official comment before publication, otherwise no news would get printed. Appropriate comments can always be published after the initial story, even if it is to deny the accuracy of the first story - but there should be no question of an offence having been committed by the journalist on account of not having got an official comment!
However, I am surprised that the Monitor calls Dr. Samson Kwaje "a security officer". Don't they know he is the Minister of Information (Radio & Television). If they can confuse Kwaje with security, it casts doubt on the accuracy of the report for which their reporter was quizzed.
Happy New Year.
Jacob
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Uganda: SPLA Quiz Monitor Scribe
The Monitor (Kampala)
December 21, 2006’ Monitor Reporter
SUDAN Security yesterday briefly arrested Daily Monitor reporter Grace Matsiko over a story he authored concerning last Saturday's mutiny by soldiers in Juba town.
Mr Matsiko spent an hour at the SPLA Intelligence headquarters in Juba town where he was interviewed by the agency before he was cautioned and freed. Mr Matsiko has been in Juba covering the talks between the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) and the government.
Two intelligence operatives picked Matsiko from Civicon Oasis Hotel at 2.00pm, where he had gone to interview some officials. Dr Samson Kwaje, an intelligence officer told Mr Matsiko that he was not supposed to report any issues outside the peace talks.
"What you see outside the peace talks, it's for your own consumption. If you want to write a story get an official comment," the officer said. He said the act Mr Matsiko had 'committed' was enough to cause his deportation but they would just caution him.
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